This winter NEDC, along with 1000 Friends of Oregon and Neighbors for Clean Air, filed an appeal with the Land Use Board of Appeals, challenging a controversial building permit for the future ProLogis freight warehouse at NE 122nd and Sandy Boulevard in Portland. The site abuts apartment buildings and is within walking and rolling distance of multiple schools, including Parkrose High School, Parkrose Middle School, and Shaver Elementary School. The current plan authorizes construction that will introduce 27 freight trucks into the residential area, adding approximately 1,600 daily trips along existing high-crash corridors.
The city of Portland issued the building permit without conducting an off-site impacts analysis. Advocates have expressed concerns regarding potential diesel pollution, noise, exacerbation of urban heat islands and increased semi-truck traffic from the proposed development. Despite community concerns, the city failed to utilize its own environmental justice and equity goals articulated in the City Code and 2035 Comprehensive Plan.
Now, alongside our community partners and Crag Law Center, we are appealing the building permit to compel the City to apply the policies that are designed to protect overburdened, frontline communities from the impacts of industrial development.